Trump, TikTok and the Alt-Right Pipeline; An Analysis of the ‘TikTok Ban’. 

By Aoife Cleary 

In one of the most dramatized turn of events witnessed in the digital world in recent online history, the world-encompassing social media app that has effectively ruined everyone’s attention span permanently was caught in a whirlpool of news stories concerning a proposed ban for its American users [1]. 

In the span of a mere 12 hours, TikTok was officially banned and re-instated in the United States, following uncertain reports of a permanent black-out on the app, or contrasting views arguing that the entire process of the ban being implemented was a hoax or fear-mongering. In spite of this, TikTok has been officially banned, but is being kept alive by a life support machine that is formally known as the freshly inaugurated President, Donald J. Trump [2].  

TikTok users were greeted with two messages by the app, both at the time of the implementation of the ban and of the miraculous resurrection not even 24 hours later. These messages thanked Donald Trump for his ‘efforts’ and stated how ‘fortunate’ they were that he had permitted TikTok to return legally to the App Store.

And so, TikTok users rejoiced and celebrated their new president, welcoming him with open arms in the wake of his efforts. 

Well, not exactly.  

On an app that has hosted never-ending political debate, online protest, social justice ‘wars’ and campaigns for and against ‘cancel culture’, political figures are constantly contentious and none other more so than Trump [3]. In a more than unfortunate turn of events, figures such as Trump, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have become symbols of a right-wing tech-focused form of oligarchy, ruling over the many with the obscene wealth and status that 99.9% of America will never even see from a distance. This is only exacerbated by the clear pro-Trump propaganda and the alliance that has been struck up between himself and TikTok and its CEO, Shou Zi Chew, who was present at the inauguration earlier this month cementing himself as an ally [4].  

Though it is pessimistic and devastating to admit, money and status can override anything and everything in situations such as these. American citizens know all too well the fear that will sit in the pits of stomachs for the next four years, as Trump builds the America that Project 2025 details [5].  

As Trump’s alliance (or complete control) with TikTok begins, users who have reclaimed their accounts after the short ban have delved back into scrolling their perfectly-curated For You Pages. It did not take long for users to notice that an unnecessary amount of MAGA and right-wing content has been shoehorned into the algorithm, where a user has never before interacted with it [6].  

Interestingly, far-right content being favoured by the algorithm, purposefully or not, is not only subject to American politics, but is a European and worldwide issue also. Global Witness conducted an investigation into the TikTok algorithm’s preference of the right-wing, pro-Russia candidate for Romanian presidency, Călin Georgescu. Many videos promoting Georgescu, which were shown to users on average five times more than his left-wing political opponent, involved heavy misinformation and manipulation of facts that should ideally go against TikTok’s Community Guidelines [7]. In particular, a pro Georgescu post was found to manipulate the words of rival Elena Lasconi, fearmongering citizens by proposing an extreme leftist future of Romania. The video misconstrued Lasconi’s point by inferring that he wished the country’s national anthem to be changed due to gender-conforming lyrics.  

As more and more mainstream social media apps become inundated with far-right vitriol and misinformation, as well as being directly controlled and supported by it, things look increasingly scary for minority groups trying to navigate the online world. Building a community of like-minded individuals on an app like TikTok, be that over niche fandoms or simply believing in human rights, cannot be understated as a pressing part of freedom. 

This is certainly going to be an interesting four years.  

Sources:

[1] Maheshwari, S. and Holpuch, A. 2025. Why the U.S. is forcing TikTok to be sold or banned. The New York Times. [online] 17 Jan. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/article/tiktok-ban.html.

[2] Abramson, S. 2025. Explaining in Five Paragraphs the Scam Donald Trump Just Pulled on 150 Million American TikTok Users. [online] Substack.com. Available at: https://sethabramson.substack.com/p/explaining-in-five-paragraphs-the?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web.

[3] Marks, H. 2024. How can social media be used to promote social justice? [online] University of Plymouth. Available at: https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/discover/how-can-social-media-be-used-to-promote-social-justice.

[4] Helmore, E. 2025. Trump inauguration: Zuckerberg, Bezos and Musk seated in front of cabinet picks. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/20/trump-inauguration-tech-executives.

[5] Wendling, M. 2024. Project 2025: The Trump presidency wish list, explained. [online] http://www.bbc.com. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c977njnvq2do.

[6] Esat Dedezade 2025. TikTok Users Report Anti-Trump Content Being Hidden Following Platform’s Unbanning. Forbes. [online] 22 Jan. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/esatdedezade/2025/01/22/tiktok-users-report-anti-trump-content-being-hidden-following-platforms-unbanning/.

[7] Loftus, A. 2024. EU investigates TikTok over alleged Russian meddling in Romanian vote. BBC. [online] 17 Dec. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2v13nz202o.